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Episode:

Season 2: Episode 5

VIP Treatment: ­This episode begins right where the last one ends, with young DA Wendy Scott-Carr announcing her intent to run for State's Attorney at a gala dinner in front of Alicia, Peter, and the LGB partners. While Peter and Eli try to figure out what this means for their campaign, Alicia is called back to the firm on an urgent matter.

Lara White, a VIP massage therapist at one of the best hotels in town, wants to sue Nobel Peace Prize winner Joe Kent, the most beloved democrat in the country, for sexual assault. She claims that when she rebuffed Joe's demands for sexual release after giving him a massage earlier that evening, he threw her to the bed and used her to get off. The partners listen to her story, but aren’t sure if she’s telling the truth – she’s remarkably calm for someone who was assaulted only hours earlier, and there are several glaring inconsistencies in her story. The police declined to prosecute as well, raising more red flags. To complicate matters further, Lara has decided to meet with a rival firm later in the evening. LGB only has four hours to decide if the want to take her case.

Further investigation only muddies the water. Kalinda and Blake learn that Lara is a democrat, but did suspiciously visit Joe Kent’s website earlier in the day. They also discover that she has a roommate, Sabrina, who is also a masseuse at the hotel – and she claims that Lara gives her clients sexual favors upon occasion. Lara also reveals to Alicia that she has a towel containing some of Joe’s semen. But DNA testing takes weeks, and there’s no way to prove he didn’t ejaculate accidentally during the massage, so the case still seems weak. When Alicia asks Lara who referred the case to her, she reveals that it was Cary in the DA’s office. Does he really think we should go after Joe, Alicia wonders, or is he still trying to hurt the firm?

Meanwhile, Will attempts to settle the case with Joe Kent’s lawyer, Wilk Hobson. Hobson is so incensed at the charges that he starts a physical fight with Will, causing them both to get a bit bloodied and bruised. Right after the fight, Hobson goes to Eli at the dinner and offers him a proposal: Joe is willing to make a very valuable endorsement of Peter in exchange for him convincing his wife to drop the suit. Peter rebuffs him, but Joe goes ahead with the endorsement anyway. Peter realizes right away that this is to publicly link them. That way if he goes down, Peter will go down with him.

Joe’s wife Lisa Kent also calls Alicia and tells her not to prosecute. All of Joe’s efforts helping victimized women in the Sudan are at risk if he goes down, Lisa pleads. His financial backers will pull their funding, and many more lives will suffer. She doesn’t care if her husband is guilty if it means hurting the lives of so many others.

Right as LGB’s deadline is about to expire, Kalinda uncovers the piece of information that convinces the partners of Lara’s honesty: the story of another massage therapist, four years earlier, who had the same story about Joe but declined to press charges. But when Alicia goes to tell Lara that they’re taking her case, she finds her would-be client in the process of leaving. Lara tells Alicia that she knows the media will go after her, not the beloved Joe Kent. Her life will be turned upside down, just as Alicia’s was, and she has decided that it’s not worth it. Alicia is left stunned as Lara leaves the firm, deciding in the end to let her assailant off the hook.

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